


Immortality Awaits

by Brenda



Series: The Lazy Hazy Summer Daze Writing Challenge [28]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, The Iliad - Homer
Genre: M/M, The Lazy Hazy Summer Daze Writing Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 05:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brenda/pseuds/Brenda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't death Achilles feared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immortality Awaits

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the twenty-eighth day of the **[Lazy Hazy Summer Daze Writing Challenge](http://azewewish.livejournal.com/1074772.html)** for [](http://lobelia321.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lobelia321.livejournal.com/)**lobelia321** , who asked for Achilles/Hector, "love/hate."

It wasn't the idea of dying that troubled Achilles. What need had he to fear Death, a soldier's oldest, most cherished friend? Death was a terror for mere mortals, not for warriors who stood toe to toe with the gods and beat them at their own game. Warriors were meant to be invincible, impervious, immortal even after their lifeblood ran out onto the battlefield and their bodies turned to dust. No, dying did not worry Achilles, even though he humored his mother's whims and had allowed her to coat his body with the water of the River Styx as a shield. Thetis may have been a goddess, but she was still a mother with a mother's worries, and Achilles was son enough to want to ease her mind.

No, it wasn't death. It was the idea of being forgotten that kept Achilles up at night, pacing in front of the fire instead of joining Patroclus under the warm furs of their shared bed. Just the thought that one day his name would not be remembered, was an anathema, made his body shiver and his blood freeze. He was meant to be deified; his song was meant to be sung by bards and minstrels; his name whispered in hushed reverence, and tales of his battles and prowess shared for generations to come. To have his name fade away into obscurity would be a fate worse than death.

But it wasn't until he laid eyes on Hector on a dusty, white beach just outside the famed walls of Troy that Achilles understood his true destiny. That it wasn't only his name that would be sung and remembered and immortalized, but that of a worthy opponent as well. In that moment, he understood that the true worth of a warrior was the quality of his enemy, and in Hector, he'd found such a man, this legendary tamer of horses and a famed leader whose skills were said to match Achilles' own.

After setting his gaze upon Hector, Achilles worried no more at being forgotten – for he and the Trojan prince were destined for great and terrible deeds that would be sung until the end of time itself.

***


End file.
